


Face it, Tiger

by rosapastel



Category: I Love Yoo (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, F/M, Slow Burn, spiderman nol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-02 12:53:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20276221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosapastel/pseuds/rosapastel
Summary: Yeong-gi wants to get a hold of his new superpowers, but things don't always go as planned and if his classmate Shin-ae would just befriend him. Shin-ae, on the other hand, has no intention of making new friends and she definitely doesn't mean to crush on a certain web-crawling superhero but fate never really asks.





	Face it, Tiger

Yeong-gi was barely recuperating from the blow to his stomach when he felt a pair of arms lift him and toss him across the street. He used the momentum of being thrown to shoot some webs at a nearby lamppost and used it as an anchor to swing back towards the menacing beast. He successfully kicked him square in the face. The giant lizard groaned as he tumbled back. 

“Aw, come on, things are just starting to get exciting.” He said squatting, waiting for the giant lizard to retaliate. 

The lizard only seemed to be fueled by the witty comment. It got up, its tongue poking out of its mouth, preparing to run forward with all its force. It hunched its legs as it leaped forward hoping to run over Yeong-gi. But before it could get to him, Yeongi reached to either side of the beast with his webs. 

“Ha, you missed!” Hissed the creature as it continued on its path. 

Yeong-gi tilted his head, “Hmm … did I?” 

The lizard had just reached him when Yeong-gi pulled on the item he had previously shot. The giant dumpster attached to his webs came flying toward them. The beast had no time to react, but Yeong-gi did, he leapt over both of them, turning back only when he heard the sound of a crash. 

He heard the sound of sirens approaching the alleyway, he assumed someone must have called. A giant lizard and a man in a blue and red leotard fighting must have raised a few red flags, he supposed. “Ah,” he sighed. “I’m sorry our time got cut short.”

The lizard man seemed more out of it than he had thought for he didn't respond. Just then a squad of police officer rushed in, their guns aiming both at him and the beast on the ground. 

Yeong-gi raised his hands, smiling crookedly behind his mask. “It’s all good folks, I’ve trapped the menace. Though, I’m disappointed in your timing. I had to fight this guy for twenty minutes.”

“Hands in the air!” A bald cop yelled as he reached for his handcuffs. 

  
  


“Dude c’ mon, I’m clearly the good guy,” he used his enhanced vision to read the name on the man’s badge, “Terrance, I expected better deduction skills from you.”

“Don’t move,” the cop said.

“Sorry but I’ve got class and frankly, I’m already late.” He shot a web to the building just ahead and left the men with their mouths agape. He had that effect.

Yeong-gi had been Spider-Man for a solid three month, and the authorities still thought of him as some menace. He even went as far as to change his costume; he thought black might bring about some confusion from the authorities. Instead, he opted for a bright blue. He thought it was too bright at first, but he reckoned all superheroes should stand out. 

He jumped onto the science building of his University, quickly pulled out the backpack he hid in the corner of the roof and silently cursed as he put on his last shoe. He was late, oh he was late-late. The entire class turned as he entered the lecture hall. Yeong-gi couldn’t ignore the way the professor glowered at him for interrupting. 

It was some short 10 minutes for the lecture had ended almost as soon as he had arrived. The redhead was shoving his notebook into his backpack when the voice of his professor boomed in the empty hall. 

“Hirahara, may I have a word with you.” 

Yeong-gi gulped, it's not like I have a choice, he thought. He went down the steps to where the professor was already turning off the projector. 

“You were late again.” 

Yeong-gi tugged at his backpack strap, “I know I was sir, it won't happen a-”

“Rather than making empty promises, I would like to see you show up to lecture on time,” he paused, sending lightning bolts through his eyes, “Or not at all.”

Like that, the greying man walked away, leaving Yeong-gi behind. If he could just explain his situation, maybe then he'd understand. He could go about it in simple terms, that being Spider-Man was like a part-time job. Except … being Spider-Man wasn't like a part-time job. It was more like a full time one, wherein he couldn't choose his schedule or predicting the time his shift would end; because the fact of the matter was, he was always on shift. 

The suit underneath his sweatshirt suddenly began to itch as if he'd just put it on. He could feel every crease against his skin, almost mocking him, reminding him he wasn't just Yeong-gi anymore. 

He left the building ready for his next lecture, his favorite one. It was one of those general education classes; the professor wasn’t all the unique and English wasn’t his favorite subject either. However, there was a particularly interesting girl in his class. From the day Yeong-gi had met her, he had felt drawn to her. He wanted to be friends. 

The professor had brought donuts for the class for the last day of their first week. It was a lame excuse, but Yeong-gi wasn’t going to reject free food. Everyone had gotten one donut, yet there was still a single donut left, the professor offered it to whoever claimed it first. Yeong-gi didn’t expect to reach out for the box at the same time as her. 

“Not to be rude or anything but I was here first.” She had said in a matter a fact tone. 

Yeong-gi couldn’t help but laugh at her ridiculous comment. The truth was he was going to let her take the desert but watching her squabble was entertaining. “I beg to differ; my hand is one centimeter closer to the box.”

The girl stomped her foot. “What? You could have moved it right now.”

He laughed out loud. The girl stared back at him as if he was deranged. Maybe he was? That had been the most normal he had felt that week, the same week he got those powers. When he was with her, he felt like Yeong-gi, not Spiderman. 

The girl, Shin-ae was already sitting at her desk, she was drawing a bad doodle of the cat along the margins of her notes. “Hi,” he sat beside her. 

Shin-ae scowled. She still didn’t like him. “I told you I’m not looking for a friend.”

He rested his head on his chin, giving her what he hoped was a puppy-eyed look though judging by her drawings, she probably preferred cats. “What do you mean?” Head tilt. “It’s never bad to have more friends.”

The brunette gave him a pointed look, “All spots are filled.”

“And when will one become available?” He asked, curiously. 

Shin-ae groaned, annoyed the conversation was still going on. “Until February 31.” 

“Great, I’ll sign up then.”

Shin-ae tried to hold in her laughter, but soon she was laughing hard enough that the students filling in began giving them weird looks. Yeong-gi quickly flipped through his phone for February where he saw that in fact, the month ended on the 28th. “Hey!”

She bent down, holding her stomach as a belly laugh escaped from her lips, the redhead was pleased that he had made her laugh and hard, at that. Shin-ae cleared her throat, embarrassed and upset at herself for having laughed with him. That’s when Yeong-gi had decided; they had to be friends.

However, as he approached her, she was quick to shove her earphones into her ears. Yeong-gi sighed and sat beside her as usual. “Hey-”

“Bro, you actually swung by to class today?” His friend Soushi asked, throwing an arm over his shoulder.

The redhead turned back and gave him an incredulous look. He hoped no one had heard. His friend continued much to his dislike, “You weren’t tangled up?” Soushi raised his brows and snorted.

Yeong-gi turned around in panic, hoping no one was catching on. He quickly punched his friend on the side, causing him to wheeze and crumple on the chair. “Sorry,” he covered his mouth, finally coming to the realization of what he had done. 

“It’s fine,” his friend managed as the color of his skin returned. “I deserved that.”

It’s not like he had used all his strength; however, he knew it’d leave his friend a bruise for a least a week. Soushi had found out last month, and while at first, he didn’t believe him, more so by shock, he had recently become obsessed with joking around too much about his secret identity. 

He turned back to Shin-ae who he caught glimpsing at the both of them. When she saw this, she turned back to her phone and stared intensely at her wallpaper. “Shin-”

“Sorry I’m late guys, traffic was a mess.” Their professor fumbled to the front of the class. 

And just like that, the professor used up all their time to talk about said traffic mess. There wasn’t time for him to even spark up a conversation with Shin-ae and even if he could, she was already asleep behind her textbook. 

❣

The crisp fall air enveloped Shin-ae as she walked home from work. It was a refreshing change after having smelled nothing but deep-fried oil for hours end at her part-time job at a fast-food chain. As she continued to walk, she couldn't help but feel unsettled, as if there was a looming shadow behind her but of course, as soon as the brunette turned around, she found nothing. 

She quickened her pace, ignoring the paranoia that someone was following her. Her house was still a few streets down, and there weren't any chain restaurants or stores open anymore, which meant she had to rely on her speed if she wanted to stay alive. Shin-ae depended on her speed walk; if she was going to make it home, she had to save as much energy as she could while still being efficient. 

However, the shadow was no longer a shadow. When making a turn to the next street, she came face to face with a menacing man. His eyes almost seemed to glow yellow in the darkness, and his nose appeared broken for it sat at an odd angle, making him look even more menacing. "Want to play a game?" 

Shin-ae couldn't respond at first but then her instincts kicked in, and she began to run towards the opposite side, but she was met with nothing but brick walls and piles of trash. The man approached her, cornering her but she wasn't going to give in. The man began to reach for her face, but Shin-ae kicked the man between his legs. 

He grunted and doubled over for a second, giving her an opening to run. Despite that, It wasn't enough, for the man recovered just as quickly and had tossed Shin-ae back against the wall making her see stars. Now he was even more infuriated. "Too bad, now you'll have to play with me whether you like it or not!" He grabbed her from her sides and shook her, sending spit along the way. 

Suddenly, the man crashed down, Shin-ae saw a blur of red and blue pass her. She shrieked as a man in a suit fell from the sky. The college student blamed the hit to the head for the weird scene before her. 

"Don't worry; I'm here to help." The man said as he threw webs at the man who had assaulted her. 

"How do I know you aren't part of his crew." Just as she had finished her sentence, the man had freed his hand from the webs and began to swing at the man in red. 

He dodged every swing with remarkable speed, catching the last throw with his hand. "Would my accomplice be attacking me?!" 

The web man flipped the man over; he then released a series of webs from his wrists until the man was wholly enveloped in them, causing him to be pinned down. The assaulter grunted as he struggled to break free from the ground. 

"It'll take a couple of hours to dissolve but don't worry. The police should be here before that." He waved at the man before walking over to Shin-ae who was standing still against the wall trying to gather her wits. 

"Are you alright?" His tone of voice changed as he extended a hand to her. "Don't worry," he added when she began to tense. "I'll get you home, I promise."

He took her silence as okay. Shin-ae had just been attacked, yet she felt oddly at ease with the suited man. He extended his hand for her, so she walked over to him and gave him hers. He shot a web to a nearby ledge then faced her, "I'm going to need you to hold on to me."

"Hold on to you?!" Shin-ae yelped as he draped her hand over his shoulder and put his hand on her waist. She narrowed her eyes at him, she had just gotten away from a perv, and this guy was already getting handsy. 

Although she couldn't see, the masked man smiled from behind the mask. "You're going to want to hold on tighter." He grabbed her other hand that laid limped on her side and looped it around his neck so that she was giving him a semi hug. 

"If you try any- waaaahh!" Shin-ae yelled as they began to soar above the city. Her hair fell out of its ponytail leaving behind a bird's nest. Once they were two blocks down and she got used to being airborne, Shin-ae cracked open her eyes. The view was spectacular, nothing short of spectacular, tonight was particularly clear with little to no dust. 

"Woah." She blurted, getting lost in the lights of the city.

The man cleared his throat. 

"I'm gonna need you to tell me where you live." He said, almost shyly. Shin-ae couldn't point out why she felt such a familiarity towards the man. 

She frowned trying best to examine his face through the mask. "I don't know; I would rather go on my own. Drop me off here."

He shook his head, furiously. "No can do, what if another man chases you?"

Shin-ae shrugged. "I'll take my chances. I have to walk home alone every day, either way."

"I think I've proven I'm not going to hurt you," he pushed the hair that was hitting her face behind her ear. He swung with much ease, even with Shin-ae's weight, which she found quite impressive. He was powerful but very delicate with his movements, much like a ballerina. 

"Fine but first tell me your name?" 

The man laughed. "You're hilarious, has anyone told you that before?"

They dropped at the top of a bank near her house. Shin-ae didn't let go because she was afraid the man would go flying again at any moment and then she'd be another stain on the concrete. "I've never been known for that." She glowered. "If I'm supposed to trust you shouldn't you reveal yourself?"

"I'm wearing a mask for a reason. To hide my identity and if I reveal myself, then this costume has no point. You think I went through the trouble of creating a whole persona for the fun of it?"

"Why don't you reveal yourself? Get all the fame and recognition?" 

He bobbed his head. "I don't care about that. I wouldn't want to put my loved ones in danger."

His voice sounded small, but Shin-ae detected something else as well. Resentment? Guilt? "Okay, I'll tell you where I live mister red."

The man chuckled, "Call me, Spider-Man."

❣

"Is this your home?" He asked as he dropped her off. 

Shin-ae nodded, putting her hands inside her sweatshirt pockets. "Thanks."

Spider-Man saluted. "No need to, I'm just glad you're home safe."

The college student waited for the hero to leave, but he waited for her to step inside. "Well, bye." She waved as she reached the door handle.

"Bye." He waved back but still made no motion to leave. 

Shin-ae swallowed. He wasn't going to leave until she went in. So, the brunette swallowed her pride and walked in. As she closed the door behind her, she peeked through a crack and saw the man still waving. 

She waited for ten minutes, avoiding the strange looks from the apartment residents who passed by her in the lobby, and didn't step back out until she was sure he was long gone. The truth was the apartment complex she walked into wasn't her own. While she was thankful for being saved, Shin-ae didn't want to give away her address to a stranger. It's not like she completely lied for her apartment was just across the street. However, she wasn't going to take any chances tonight, which is why she had given him such a close location. Plus, she was tired, she realized as the adrenaline faded away.

Her phone beeped. 

Minhyuck: Yo, how was your day? Do anything crazy? ;)

Shin-ae didn't answer until she was in the comfort of her apartment, where her cat greeted her. She bent down to scratch the spot between his eyes, getting a purr in return. 

Sighing, she pulled out her phone.

Shin-ae: You have no idea.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I was going to post this as a one shot but then Quimchee posted the news that the series would return so I decided to post what I had. Hope you enjoyed and as always, comments and kudos are encouraged:)


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